“Well, I asked that question yesterday, and they told us no; so, my inclination is to take them at their word,” Valentine said.

But nobody is surprised if the bank wants to minimize another occupation.

Besides constructing a fence to deter future occupations, BNY Mellon is going to change the contour of the park, making it more hilly to make it harder to pitch a tent.

Susan Rademacher, parks curator for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, says gated parks were popular in the 19th century.

“The gates and the walls were there to say this was a special place and to help separate you from the city,” says Rademacher.

Much less common today, Heinz Hall Park is one of the few gated parks in the city.

Valentine says he has mixed feelings.

“There’s a part of me that says this is private land and they have the right to do what they want,” he said. “But there’s also a part of me that wants to make sure that the residents of Pittsburgh get to use this beautiful park.”